Action Autoportrait(s)

For Seven Easy Pieces Marina Abramovic reenacted five seminal performance works by her peers, dating from the 1960's and 70's, and two of her own, interpreting them as one would a musical score. The project confronted the fact that little documentation exists from this critical early period and one often has to rely upon testimony from witnesses or photographs that show only portions of any given performance. The seven works were performed for seven hours each, over the course of seven consecutive days, November 9 –15, 2005 at the Guggenheim Museum, in New York City. Seven Easy Pieces examines the possibilities of representing and preserving an art form that is, by nature, ephemeral.

A single protagonist in a small room performing enigmatic actions.

On the artist's face, which lies supine on the ground, white larvae swarm undisturbed on the cheek, pushing into the nasal cavities, the labial commissure and that of the eyelids, sometimes ajar, sometimes moistened by tears.

A close-up of the artist slowly cutting her own tongue with a razor blade, letting blood spill from her mouth.

Action by Gina Pane.